This past week B-D reporter SpookyDan had the chance to talk with Jeremy Kasten, the director of The Wizard of Gore, which will have it’s World Premiere next week as part of the LA Film Fest. Read on to see what you can expect and more! This remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ exploitation classic puts an up-to-date spin on the tale of an underground illusionist (Crispin Glover) who may be performing more than just sleight-of-hand tricks since volunteers from his audience keep turning up dead.

B-D West Coast reporter SpookDan has the pleasure of speaking exclusively with Jeremy Kasten, director the upcoming WIZARD OF GORE remake, which will have it’s World Premiere at the LA Film Fest next week (tickets here) on Friday June 22nd at 11:59 pm (The Majestic Crest Theater 1262 West wood Blvd.) with an encore Thursday June 28th at 10:00pm (Landmark Theaters, 10850 W. Pico Blvd.). The film is a remake of the classic Herschell Gordon Lewis pic from 1970 that followed a TV talk-show hostess and her boyfriend who investigate a shady magician whom has the ability to hypnotize and control the thoughts of people in order to stage gory on-stage illusions using his powers of mind bending.

Kasten talked to B-D a bit about his cast and what we can expect from the remake, “Despite having an amazing cast including Crispin Glover, Bijou Phillips, Kip Pardue, Brad Dourif and Jeffrey Combs, an amazing writer in Zach Chassler and amazing locations, gruesome effects and a cast of hundreds, I still managed to utterly run this ship soooo far aground.” He also joked about how fun the film is when you’re drunk, “from what I have seen, the film is fun [when] drunk… for me and you. [I’m kidding of course, I can’t start drinking on the really early shoot days until after lunch.”

All kidding aside, Kasten took the film into a dark place, “Okay, the movie is f*cking disturbing… [It’s] really dark in a really interesting way.” He also explains how the film has entered into new sub-genre territory, “We have a real anti-hero at the core of this film thusly we call it Splatter-Noir. Of course we kept the basic concept of what H.G. Lewis did so brilliantly, but we really tried to elevate the genre and his story and in-so-doing I think the movie becomes MORE horrific for the ugliness at its CORE. It’s EXACTLY what you hope for when you hear there’s a cover (I’m loathe to use the term “remake”) of THE WIZARD OF GORE with Crispin Glover as Montag.”

Bijou Phillips is one of the stars of GORE, along with HOSTEL 2, which just hit theaters, Kasten jokes about who would win in a fight between the two characters, “I think the REAL Bijou Phillips could kick BOTH their asses. I have not had time to see HOSTEL 2 yet. I’ve been in traction, recovering from a little disagreement with Bijou.”

The real story (the ONLY story) is how SpookyDan and Jeremy Kasten both have crazy mustaches, although Dan felt his wasn’t up to par. He asked Jeremy if he could give him pointers on how to get his mustache as crazy his, Kasten replied, “Soon you’ll experience all kinds of changes on your body. You will have funny feelings in you. Things all over your body will alter -all by themselves. Don’t fret, SpookyDan. This is normal. This is called puberty.”

And from the sounds of it, going into WIZARD OF GORE with a child’s mentality will only amplify the experience (I kid!).